Fresh off consecutive wins in the ACC Tournament over Boston College and Louisville, Duke's run in the conference's postseason bracket has come to an end after the Blue Devils program had a positive COVID-19 test pop up Thursday ahead of its tilt against Florida State, the conference announced on Thursday. The positive test involves a player who did not play Wednesday against Louisville in the second round of the ACC Tournament, a source told CBS Sports' Matt Norlander.
The development forces Duke to withdraw from the ACC Tournament and could effectively end its season.
Duke (13-11, 9-9 ACC) was on the outside looking in of the NCAA Tournament bracket in Jerry Palm's latest Bracketology prior to the news. It likely needed to win the league's postseason tourney to punch a ticket to the Big Dance, or at the very least needed a win over the Seminoles to make their bubble case more interesting.
The Blue Devils had several disruptions in their schedule this season related to the pandemic -- and made news by cancelling part of their nonconference slate -- but none were nearly this consequential. Adding insult to injury, it is the program's first reported positive COVID test among Tier 1 personnel all season.
Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski openly questioned the reasoning for playing the season last fall amid the worsening pandemic, which came well before Duke's tourney hopes were left for dead.
"We're just plowing through this," he said via ESPN.com, noting rising cases at the time in December.
"People are saying the next six weeks are going to be the worst,"he added. "To me, it's already pretty bad. On the other side of it, there are these vaccines that are coming out. By the end of the month, 20 million vaccine shots will be given. By the end of January or in February, another 100 million. Should we not reassess that? See just what would be best?"
With Duke being forced out of the ACC tournament and its NCAA Tournament hopes now dashed, its streak of 24 consecutive appearances in March Madness will soon formally come to an end. It will snap the second-longest active streak in college basketball and the third-longest streak in college hoops history.
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